“Train?” I glanced out my front window. “Huh, what do you know. I didn’t hear it pull into the station either.”
“Exactly my point. Be here tomorrow morning at nine,” she said, and hung up.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” I told Spook, who’d appeared out of nowhere to wrap his tail around my shins. “I’m doing very well for a beginner.”
Mia traipsed down the stairs rolling her eyes and sighing dramatically. “Steph just sent me a text message asking if there was a dying goat in our yard. You’re so embarrassing.”
Ben pulled into the driveway in Metamora One, got out, and hoofed it to the door double-speed. “I got a complaint of disrupting the peace from this address,” he said, coming through the door.
“It was her and that thing,” Mia said, pointing at me and my clarinet.
Soapy followed Ben inside. “As the mayor of this town—”
“I’m done, okay?” I said, shoving the clarinet into Ben’s hands. “Good gravy! A woman can’t even practice the clarinet in her own yard around here without it becoming a police matter!”
“Why were you playing in the front yard?” Ben asked.
“If you must know, Old Dan told me I had to sing to the bees. You know me and singing don’t mix. I thought I’d try to play for them instead.”
“Oh. Right,” Ben said. “Good call. Don’t sing to them unless you want them to fly away for their lives.”
I shot him a dirty glare.
“You’re supposed talk to them, not sing to them,” Soapy said. “My mother used to keep bees. Every evening after dinner she’d sit beside their hive with her embroidery and tell them the day’s gossip. She always said if you didn’t keep the queen up to date on the town happenings she’d get offended and they’d swarm.”
“Really?” I said. “I just have to talk to them? I can do that.”
“Yes, you can,” Ben said. “Sometimes I don’t think you’ll ever keep your nose out of my business, so go tell them all about Butch Landow and how you almost got yourself killed.”
“Someone’s still a little salty,” Mia said, traipsing back up the stairs.
“I had a concussion, that’s all,” I told him. “Don’t make it a bigger deal than it was.”
“I’ll wait in the truck,” Soapy said, clearly uncomfortable being at the scene of a budding domestic dispute. “Cam, the next town event isn’t until after the new year, so you just rest up.”
When he’d walked out onto the porch and pulled the door shut behind him, Ben set the clarinet on the hall table and took my hand. “I’m serious, Cam. Just because you’re still married to a police officer and you somehow have made a habit of stumbling across recently deceased townspeople, you don’t have the training or authority to get involved in these cases. When you were lying unconscious—”
“I fell down the hill. I was fine.”
“Maybe so, but that makes the second time I’ve shown up on a scene to arrest a murderer to find that you just narrowly escaped with your own life. There can’t be a next time.”
“Well, I’m not planning on finding another dead person, Ben, so you can stop worrying.”
He sighed his annoyed, frustrated, resigned sigh reserved just for me, and nodded. “We’re still on for our Wednesday movie this week?”
“We better be. You owe me pizza afterward, too, for doing your job for you.” I knew my bad joke was pushing him too far as soon as it was out of my mouth. “I’m just kidding,” I said quickly.
Ben shook his head. “I guess I can spring for pizza and peanut M&M’s since you solved the case. And it will be your last.”
After he left, I resumed my spot in the lawn chair beside the beehive. “Well, what can I tell you, Queenie?” I settled back and gazed up at the streaky white clouds floating by in the bright blue sky. “It all started with polka dots. I knew they were deadly.”
Recipes
Bone-shaped cookie cutters are sold at many craft stores, but any shape will work. Vary the size of the treats based on your own fur friends! Store your biscuits in an air-tight container, or freeze for long-term storage. Please be aware of any dietary restrictions your dog has prior to giving them human food.
dogs dig leftovers
21⁄2 cups flour (regular, whole wheat, or oats)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1⁄4 cup beef or chicken stock
1⁄4 cup hot water
1 tbsp. peas
1 tbsp. finely chopped carrots
1 tbsp. finely shredded beef, cooked (cooked hamburger is a good replacement)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, kneading until dough forms a ball. Roll dough to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Slice or cut with bone-shaped cookie cutter. Move biscuits to lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Our Dog Diggity taste testers also approve of chicken instead of beef!
dogs dig italian biscuits
21⁄2 cups flour (regular, whole wheat, or oats)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1⁄4 cup beef or chicken stock
1⁄4 cup hot water
1 tbsp. finely shredded fresh basil
1⁄2 cup ricotta cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, kneading until dough forms a ball. Roll dough to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Slice or cut with bone-shaped cookie cutter. Move biscuits to lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Dog Diggity taste testers also love cottage cheese and oregano!
dogs dig honey bones
21⁄2 cups flour (regular, whole wheat, or oats)
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1⁄2 cup hot water
1⁄2 cup of raw, local honey (or honey from your grocery store)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients, kneading until dough forms a ball. Roll dough to 1⁄2-inch thickness. Slice or cut with bone-shaped cookie cutter. Move biscuits to lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Dog Diggity taste testers also love it when we add peanut butter and mashed bananas to this recipe!
About the Author
Jamie M. Blair (Ohio) is the New York Times bestselling author of young adult and romance books, including Leap of Faith (Simon & Schuster, 2013) and Lost to Me (2014). You can visit her online at www.JamieBlairAuthor.com.
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